24 January 2006
WorldSpace Satellite Radio, one of the world leaders in satellite-based digital radio services, announced that it has expanded its senior management team with the appointments of Shishir Lall in India, as managing director of operations, and Stephen Horn at the Silver Spring headquarters, as chief marketing officer. The new appointments strengthen the companys leadership and further support expansion efforts, globally.
As managing director of WORLDSPACE India, Shishir Lall will spearhead the companys business operations in India to drive sales and marketing efforts. Lall has worked at leading consumer products companies including Brooke Bond, Unilever, and Pepsi. Lall replaces Deepak Varma, who will now manage business development activities.
Stephen Horn joins WORLDSPACE as chief marketing officer and will lead sales and marketing initiatives. Horn has more than 20 years of industry experience, previously holding senior management positions at Coca-Cola Enterprises, PepsiCola and Citibank.
At this exciting stage in our companys growth, we are very pleased to have these high caliber professionals join the team, said Noah Samara, CEO, WORLDSPACE. Shishir Lall will play an integral role in helping us to streamline operations in India, and Stephen Horn will guide our global marketing efforts to help us build additional brand awareness. Both will be critical players as we continue to increase our international presence, gain subscribers, and execute against our global business plan.
With more than 100,000 global subscribers, WORLDSPACE is the first and only satellite radio provider outside of North America, South Korea and Japan providing digital audio radio services (DARS) internationally.
19 January 2006
The BBC has made a formal complaint to the Tajik Government, following the suspension of the BBC’s services to Tajikistan on FM frequencies by the Tajik authorities since Tuesday 10 January 2006.
BBC services on medium wave and shortwave to listeners in the country remain unaffected. The suspension follows a recently ratified Tajik Media Law requiring international broadcasters on FM to register with the Tajik Ministry of Justice and acquire a media licence.
The BBC is currently the only international broadcaster available on FM in Tajikistan and has a legal contract and licence to broadcast. However, although the BBC has started the new process for registration, the 20-day deadline was unrealistic for a process that would normally take up to six months to complete.
Over the last week representations have been made to the Tajikistan authorities by the BBC. Since there has been no formal response from the authorities, the BBC is making a formal complaint to the Tajik Government. The BBC is requesting that services are resumed immediately while the registration process is completed. BBC World Service Director Nigel Chapman says: “The BBC has a legal contract and a licence to broadcast on FM and we would like that to be honoured. The BBC is happy to comply with the new law but the process takes considerably more time than has been allowed by the Tajik authorities. There is no reason why listeners in Tajikistan should be deprived of our services on FM while these bureaucratic hurdles are overcome.”
The BBC has been broadcasting in Tajikistan since 1996 on medium wave. In 2004 the BBC launched two 24-hour FM relays, in Dushanbe and Khojand, with programmes in Tajik (Persian), as well as broadcasts in Russian and English.
19 January 2006
SES ASTRA, an SES GLOBAL company has signed an agreement with the Czech free-to-air leisure and shopping channel TOP TV for digital capacity on ASTRA at the orbital position 19.2° East. TOP TV is the fourth Czech free-to-air channel transmitted via ASTRA at 19.2° East, following the music channel Ocko TV, the parliamentary channel 24.cz and the public news channel CT24. In addition to these customer relationships, SES ASTRA enjoys a long-standing cooperation with UPC Direct, the key Direct-to-Home bouquet provider for the Central and Eastern European region.
Alexander Oudendijk, Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer of SES ASTRA, said: ”Our agreement with TOP TV confirms our leading role in the highly competitive Central and Eastern European market. TOP TV is an attractive enhancement of our free-to-air channel line-up and we look forward to a fruitful and successful cooperation.”
Kateøina Frièová, General Director of TOP TV, said: Broadcasting TOP TV via ASTRA at 19.2° East will ensure that we reach the widest possible audience in the Czech Republic and across Europe in the highest quality. We are proud to become a member of the ASTRA family.
TOP TV is broadcast via transponder 57 on ASTRA 2C at 19.2° East (10832.25 MHz).
18 January 2006
Mobile operator O2 and transmission group Arqiva have unveiled initial findings of their mobile television trial in Oxford: 83% of triallists are happy with the 16-channel service, and 76% want to take it up if offered over the next year. The trial, which launched in September with 375 O2 subscribers aged 18-44, shows an average viewing duration of 23 minutes per session, with one to two sessions per day. On average, triallists are watching the service for three hours per week, though some enthusiasts are spending more than five hours a week glued to their Nokia 7710 smartphones.
Usage is high in the mornings and early evenings, with users watching in the home, at work and on their daily commute. “Interestingly, the results also demonstrate a lunchtime viewing peak higher than the normal TV pattern, suggesting that viewers are enjoying news, sports and their favourite daytime soaps while on their lunch break,” said O2.
The channel line-up includes terrestrial channels from the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Five, combined with programming from Sky, MTV and other content providers. O2 said demand for additional multimedia services was high, including digital radio, interactive services and ‘live’ links to channel web sites. Seven out of 10 triallists would like to have digital radio channels included in a commercial service.
Dave Williams, O2’s chief technology officer, said: “This trial is further illustration that we are moving from a verbal only to a verbal and visual world in mobile communications, and we are encouraged to see the trial results confirm this. “We already see a powerful trend among O2 customers to use a wide range of visual services such as video downloads and streaming, interactive games, various messaging services with live or streamed video, music including radio and a whole host of web portal services. Broadcast TV for mobile can be a powerful new service that further enables users to personalise their mobile handset so that they can always have the content they want. We call this trend ‘Personal TV’ and the addition of TV content digitally broadcast straight to your mobile is a huge part of that vision.”
Dr Hyacinth Nwana, Arqiva’s managing director, Mobile Media Solutions, added: “The Oxford Mobile TV trial has proved there is a market for mobile broadcasting and now we’re looking to make it happen with the collaboration of the whole industry. The trial is proving that mobile multichannel broadcasting, including TV and radio, is mass market in addition to meeting consumer demand for content and choice of programmes. We have also demonstrably proven scalability, even if we have to deliver to millions of handsets simultaneously.”
Full results from the DVB-H trial will be released in the spring. Last week BT hailed the success of its four-month mobile TV trial, which used DAB digital radio spectrum. Two-thirds of customers would be prepared to pay up to £8 per month for the BT Movio serviceformerly known as BT Livetimesaid BT, which now plans a commercial launch for the service later this year.
18 January 2006
Australias metropolitan commercial radio stations attracted advertising revenue of $591 million in calendar year 2005, a 6.2 per cent increase over 2004, according to data released by industry body Commercial Radio Australia.
The data, compiled by PricewaterhouseCoopers for the five major capital city markets, showed Perth recorded the strongest growth in advertising revenue over the 12 month period (up 10.3 per cent), followed by Melbourne (up 8.2 per cent). Sydney, which accounts for about 40 per cent of revenue, grew by 3.5 per cent over the year, while Brisbane rose by 6.4 per cent.
While advertising growth has slowed compared with the exceptional 15 per cent increase experienced in 2004, the figures show commercial radio continued to perform well in 2005, said Commercial Radio Australia chief executive officer Joan Warner. Advertising revenue grew by 8.7 per cent in the June half and 4.1 per cent in the December half, reflecting the overall slowing of the advertising market in 2005, Ms Warner said.
Advertising revenue for the five markets rose to $315.7 million in the December 2005 half compared with $303.4 million for the same period previously. In the month of December 2005, revenue increased by 3.3 per cent to $52 million compared with December 2004.
Ms Warner said commercial radio was expected to remain competitive in 2006 against other main media. Radio has traditionally weathered periods of uncertainty well because its immediacy and shorter production times provide advertisers with more flexibility. Commercial radio has also been successful in retaining strong audiences through 2005, particularly in the highly competitive breakfast shift, where listener numbers reached their highest levels in more than five years.
The first radio ratings survey period for 2006 began this week, with results to be released on February 21. There will be eight surveys conducted by Neilsen Media Research during the year in each of the five mainland capital cities.
